J A M M U   &   K A S H M I R

J&K forces on high alert
SRINAGAR, Jan 24 — The security forces have been put on high alert in the Kashmir valley, particularly in the areas adjacent to the venues of Republic Day functions, following threat by militant organisations and a ‘black day’ call given by the All-Party Kashmir Hurriet Conference.

J&K initiative only on paper
JAMMU, Jan 24 — “They do not giveth but taketh,” was the sarcastic response of a senior state government functionary to reports that additional forces had been sent to the state as promised at a high-level meeting in Delhi presided over by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee recently.

Kashmiri language ignored in J&K
PATIALA, Jan 24 — Kashmir experts today said the quality of administration and justice being delivered to the people of Kashmir could be gauged from the fact that the Kashmiri language was neither used in the administration nor in the courts in the State.

Sanitation plan for Srinagar
SRINAGAR, Jan 24 — To provide better sanitation to over eight lakh residents of Srinagar city, in the absence of sewerage, the Srinagar municipality has drafted sanitation by-laws 2000.

J&K forces on high alert

SRINAGAR, Jan 24 (UNI) — The security forces have been put on high alert in the Kashmir valley, particularly in the areas adjacent to the venues of Republic Day functions, following threat by militant organisations and a ‘black day’ call given by the All-Party Kashmir Hurriet Conference.

More than 120 suspected persons, mostly former militants, have been taken into custody as a precautionary measure by the security forces and special operation group of the Jammu and Kashmir police during the past few days across the valley.

Official sources here said today that a large number of security forces have already been deployed near all vital installations including security force camps and the district headquarters. Bakshi Stadium is the main venue for the Republic Day function in this summer capital.

“All necessary measures had been taken across the valley to frustrate possible militant designs. Forces are put on maximum alert following intelligence reports and open threat held by militant organisations like the Lashkar-e-Toiba to attack security force installations and Bakshi Stadium (on January 26),” a police spokesman said.

The police have information that some ‘Fidayeen’ (suicide) squads have lately sneaked into the valley from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir with a definite task to carry out attacks on force camps and important installations.

A UNI correspondent, after visiting some localities in the uptown, downtown and Civil Lines, saw that most shops were closed.

The local people feel sad that Republic Day meant for them fear of subversive activities and endless frisking when their counterparts in other states celebrated the occasion with joy.

All roads around Bakshi Stadium were closed for vehicular traffic on January 22. The security forces wearing bullet-proof jackets are heavily deployed in and around the stadium. The security forces with automatic weapons could be also seen on either side of the Srinagar-Airport road.

The Border Security Force is carrying out house-to-house searches in the areas including Haft-Chinar, Hari Singh High Street, Goni Khan, Gogjibagh, Lalmandi, Jawahar Nagar, Raj Bagh, Amira Kadal, Koker Bazar, Mahraj Bazar, Batmaloo, Danderkha, Lachmanpora, Ram Bagh, Solina, Mahjoor Nagar, Natipora and Alochi Bagh.

Patrolling in these areas have been intensified to thwart any militant attempt to fire rockets towards the stadium. the security forces with heavy weapons are being deployed on top floors of some government and private buildings adjacent to stadium.

Militants have been firing rockets and grenades towards the stadium on Republic and Independence Day almost every year since the past 10 years. However, tighter security arrangements of late has prevented such incidents during the past two years.

J&K initiative only on paper
From M.L. Kak
Tribune News Service

JAMMU, Jan 24 — “They do not giveth but taketh,” was the sarcastic response of a senior state government functionary to reports that additional forces had been sent to the state as promised at a high-level meeting in Delhi presided over by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee recently.

So far not one additional company of paramilitary forces has been sent to the state. “Instead of sending additional forces the Centre has withdrawn 12 companies of CRPF from Srinagar and nine companies from Jammu,” the state government functionary said. These 21 companies have been sent to Bihar for election duty.

Another senior officer said the Centre had not even made such a commitment at the meeting. Instead the state had been told to utilise the forces available fully. This despite its pleading that these battalions were “over-stretched” and there were areas without security cover.

Instead the Centre had decided to divide the state into 49 sectors and establish a new, unified headquarters north of Zojila for Kargil and Leh districts of Ladakh. A senior official said while there was no harm in the proposition itself in case of a meeting of the unified headquarters at Zojila senior functionaries and securitymen would have to be flown to Zojila, a time consuming, expensive and useless activity.

Instead what the state needed for a pro-active policy was more security personnel. The state government has long sought additional funds for raising at least three more police battalions and purchasing sophisticated weapons and communication system.

A senior police officer said “we do not require additional forces if the Defence Ministry evolves a strategy under which the rate of infiltration is reduced to zero. Once the militants crossed the border and established hideouts it is hard to flush them out without scores of innocents being killed.”

He said dividing the state into 49 sectors under the counter insurgency grid had no meaning seeking how Pakistani troops had captured three Indian posts in Kargil and Batalik belts, endangering the entire Khalsi area, 336 km from Srinagar. Pakistani soldiers occupying the two posts in the upper reaches of Dah village could target Khalsi with artillery weapons.

The officer said field reports revealed that Pakistani soldiers had fortified their positions and tin sheds to protect the soldiers against sub-zero temperatures and strong winds.

The situation on the border would ease if the Army was not required to carry out anti-insurgency operations. This was possible if more battalions of the police and paramilitary forces were available for anti-insurgency operations, freeing army units for border duties.

Kashmiri language ignored in J&K
Tribune News Service

PATIALA, Jan 24 — Kashmir experts today said the quality of administration and justice being delivered to the people of Kashmir could be gauged from the fact that the Kashmiri language was neither used in the administration nor in the courts in the State.

Delivering the inaugural address at the three-day national seminar on “Development of Kashmiri Language in the Post-Independence Era”, organised by the Northern Regional Languages Centre, Dr Onkar N.Kaul, Director, Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, said the development of any language depended on its use in various domains such as administration, education and mass media.

Dr Kaul said while Kashmiri was not being used in the administration, courts and the print medium. It was only being used in the electronic medium. There is no daily or weekly in Kashmiri.

Dr Kaul said similarly children ‘in Kashmir’ were denied their fundamental right to learn their mother tongue as a subject at the primary level. He said this policy went against the UNESCO resolution which strongly emphasised the use of mother tongue as the medium of instruction at the primary level. The low literacy and high drop-outs rates at the school level could be attributed to the medium of instruction being a language other than the mother tongue, he added.

The Punjabi University Vice-Chancellor, Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia, presided over the session. He said the language played a catalytic role in the development of culture and literature of a community and the region. He said all the languages spoken in northern India had close linkages. Kashmir had been part of the Lahore kingdom. There was need to find linkages between Punjabi and Kashmiri. Dr Ahluwalia said that as Punjabi has borrowed a lot from Persian and Urdu similarly Punjabi, Pahari, Dogri and Kashmiri had also borrowed from each other.

Dr Ahluwalia said Punjabi University was willing to encourage studies on the relationship between different languages. He hoped that the development of Kashmiri would go a long way in shaping and strengthening Kashmiriat and making Kashmiri population part of national mainstream.

In his keynote address Prof Gulshan Majeed of the Department of Central Asian Languages, University of Kashmir, said it was unfortunate that the people of Kashmir spoke Kashmiri but the official language was Urdu.

Dr R.K. Bhat, Director, Northern Regional Languages Centre, Patiala, introduced the subject and elaborated on the objectives of the seminar. Those who presented their papers today included Dr Vijay Koul, Dr S.N. Raina, Mr Tej Rawal, Prof H.K. Koul and Mr S.N. Bhat Haleem.

Sanitation plan for Srinagar
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Jan 24 — To provide better sanitation to over eight lakh residents of Srinagar city, in the absence of sewerage, the Srinagar municipality has drafted sanitation by-laws 2000.

The draft has been published in local dailies to invite objections and suggestions of the general public. These should reach the authorities concerned within one month. The municipality had earlier last year planned to charge the residents a sanitation fee every month varying from area to area depending on the location. The residents under the new draft plan will have to pay sanitation fee, depending on the location of the area, to the Srinagar Municipality.

Under the nine-point plan of duties for the residents, the municipality seeks to clean buildings and business concerns, generally between such hours as may be notified by the ward officer of the respective area. Residents who throw litter on any street, road pathway or pavement, the Jhelum or any water body shall be deemed to have committed an offence punishable under the Municipal Act.

In its duties, the Srinagar Municipality shall be dumping solid and organic wastes collected from different areas of the municipal limits for disposal by open sanitary landfill method and conversion into bio-organic soil.

The detailed municipal sanitation by-laws of 2000 shall be submitted to the Jammu and Kashmir Government in the Housing and Urban Development Department after a period of one month. The one month period has been provided to the public for getting detailed information and submitting objections, if any, to the municipality. The draft is part of the sanitation drive in Srinagar city, which, had been facing deteriorating civic conditions over the years.

3 militants killed

SRINAGAR, Jan 24 (PTI) — Three militants and a special police officer (SPO) were killed and eight securitymen, including a Major and a station house officer, were wounded in separate militancy-related incidents in the Kashmir valley since last evening.

Three militants, suspected to be foreigners, were killed in a fierce encounter with security forces at the Nagarnar forest of Handwara in Kupwara district last night, Senior Superintendent of Police, Kupwara, Ashkoor Wani told PTI here today.

He said three Army personnel, including a Major and a junior commissioned officer, and a policeman were also injured in the encounter which took place when a joint party of police and the Army raided the forest hideout of militants.

The ultra, who was keeping guard outside the hideout, opened fire and alerted his about 25 accomplices present there, Wani said, adding that the troops retaliated and engaged the militants in a fierce encounter which lasted several hours.

Three militants, including the sentry, was killed while rest of the militants escaped deep into the forest. The troops chased the fleeing militants and engaged them in another encounter during which four more militants were believed to have been killed, but their bodies could not be retrieved and had apparently taken away by other militants, Wani said.

One of the three militants killed in the first encounter was identified as ‘Col Rashid’, a senior commander of a Pakistan-based militant outfit.